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Scientists just found evidence of one of the largest solar storms ever detected, which hit Earth roughly 2,600 years ago, in an unlikely place: Greenland’s ice cores.

Raimund Muscheler, from Lund University in Sweden, and his colleagues published their findings in PNAS, which analyzed ice cores from Greenland, also known as tiny samples of ice that developed over the last 100,000 years,” Newsweek reported. With these ice samples, the team was able to find out when our planet was hit by the sun’s high-energy cosmic waves and how it might have altered Earth at that time, Phys.org noted.

In the past, scientists have used ice cores to locate two other major solar storms, one which took place in 775 AD and another in 994 AD. In the study, the team used two ice cores from Greenland and discovered that another giant solar storm took place around 660 BC.

SPEs, also known as solar proton events, send tons of particles, such as high-energy protons, toward Earth, and when they hit our planet, they interact with Earth’s atmosphere. This interaction causes an increase in the rate of chlorine-36, carbon-14, and beryllium-10, Gizmodo reported. Ancient ice cores, including the samples from Greenland featured in the study, could contain spikes of beryllium-10 and chlorine-36 from SPEs.

Even though the approx. 660 BC solar storm was the third major solar storm occurrence to be documented, it could provide more insights on how solar storms impacted Earth in the past.

“The first discovery of such an event was quite recent. I am sure these are recurring features of the sun and with a systematic search we will certainly find more,” Muscheler told Newsweek. “We just looked at the last 3,000 years, and we certainly can get good enough data for the past 12,000 years.”

Since evidence has pointed to three massive solar storms taking place in the last 3,000 years, the scientists plan to explore more ice core samples to better understand these strange phenomenons. With their research, the team aims to help people prepare for future giant solar storms, which could shut down global communication systems, air traffic systems, and satellites.

“Our highly interconnected technological society has become vulnerable to disturbances from the sun,” Muscheler added. “Assets in space, including satellites and humans, need to be protected, and even systems on the ground are at risk from large solar events.”